Defense Department to eventually allow limited use of flash drives

The blanket ban on the use of USB flash drives implemented by the U.S. Department of Defense last November will eventually be lifted--at least partially. Controls and measures to manage the use of portable storage media will first have to be put in place, naturally.

"We are working on upgraded antivirus and malware detection, alert and eradication capabilities, as well as implementation of controls to deny network access to unauthorized USB flash media and revised operating procedures for scanning and cleaning flash media," wrote Robert Carey, the chief information officer for the Department of the Navy on his blog recently.

Additional details of the systems being put in place are not available, though it is understood that only authorized individuals will be able to make use of the flash drives, system or not. Has your organization encountered any data leaks or security incidents resulting from the use of flash drives?

For more on this story:
- check out this article at CNET News

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